China’s women water polo team eager for first Olympic play
Rio de Janeiro, Aug 4 (IANS) China’s women water polo players could hardly wait to play their Rio Olympic Games right away as they had their first and only training session at the competition pool here.
“We feel great and excited here. We hope the competition start from tomorrow,” chief coach Ricardo Azevedo, who played the centre for the Brazil national team as the captain during 1971-1984, said on Wednesday.
“My girls keep asking me ‘when do we play, when do we play’ all the time. In fact, our first group match starts on August 9. I love their desire for the competition. That is great.”
China will play Hungary on August 9, face the US on August 11 and Spain on August 13 in their Group B matches, reports Xinhua.
According to Azevedo, Chinese team is ready since it had trained in Italy, Spain during the last month and arrived in Sao Paulo one week ago.
“We have trained in the hot and cold places, and in different times of the day. So the weather in Rio is not an issue for us when we play in the outdoor pool.”